TOPIC: TV SHOW HURTING GINSENG!!

The new show has really got a lot of people in the woods, I work at a small place with only 15 workers of them 3 of them are telling me of people that just got started digging it this year. TV show has brought that about!! That's what's gonna hurt ginseng here in america and I'm a 22 yr digger I select my seng and plant berries back in same woods. These young people new at it are gonna rape the woods digging all seng if the plant only shows 3 leaves not a 3 prong but a first yr plant. My good guess is with the TV show witch I enjoy watching but has probably brought in 100 times the more diggers now than it was just 2 yrs ago. Needless to say let this keep goin on and give it 5 yrs MAX and there is gonna be very little ginseng anywhere. It will go out people will quit because it won't be there and the few that was his good will come back but not for us to dig it would take ginseng 25-50 yrs before a lot of places are good to dig again and that's only if they are left alone!! Mark my words ginseng will be better than 50% gone in america in the next 3-5 yrs...
People has got to stop raping the land dig mature 12+ yr old plants in there area wait 4-6 yrs and go back to that spot and select it again. This is just the truth. Great hobby to have while your able to do it but digging it all and that hobby you love we will all lose it in 3-5 yrs.... No guess its a garentee!!!!

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I couldn't agree more. I was surprised at the sudden interest in hunting ginseng at our annual 4th of July party held this year. There were several friends of the family that attended that were discussing how much money they were gonna make digging ginseng. There were at least 5 soon to be new diggers that were getting ready to hit the woods at places near their homes. I overheard the conversation and had to step in and explain that it was illegal to harvest it here in WV prior to September 1st. I also explained to the folks that were NOT going to go dig 10 to 15k worth in a day like the TV show would suggest. I was hoping once they learned that on average it took 200 to 300 roots to accumulate a pound of dry ginseng that it would discourage them enough to just forget about it. One guy had pictures of plants on his phone that he downloaded so he would know what to look for.

In the other post where I mentioned about an area I hunt that looked to have been harvested in early Aug. had hardly any little 3 leaf plants left. When I was in there in May hunting Morel mushrooms there was more immature ginseng plants than I had ever seen in any previous years. There was brush piles there that had held patches of smaller stuff for all the previous years that I can remember that were just cleaned with everything gone.

I like you believe that in 5 years it won't be worth hunting and I do it more for the enjoyment of being in the woods than the money. I have a small farm myself and I have transplanted roughly a lb. green every year for the last 5 years with about a 60% success rate. I think in future years I will transplant every stock of ginseng I find.

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All you diggers that go every year, regardless of price, you think about what is happening because of these tv shows when it comes time to sell. Think about all the small plants you have left, all the berries you have replanted. Potenentially all your hard work is destroyed this year because of two people who want to blow their own horn and say look what ive done. Under no circumstance would I sell to them and I would, at all cost, keep my friends from selling to them. They have thrown you under the bus.

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Im going out on a limb and say some thing unpopular i dont think the tv shows have had near the impact on harvest as the bad ecomony in mountain areas .the high prices of the last few years have fueled interest far more then made up reality? anyone who believes those shows are real isnt going to dig much if any ginseng so fear not my friends just plant your seeds and pinch the tops of all the small ginseng you see ginseng will be just fine. my father says during the great depression all the local ginseng was almost gone then after world war two people went back to work tpeople lost interest in ginseng for awhile by the middle fiftys he said the woods where full of patches and big four prongs . I expect ginseng will get very rare in some places people will find its not worth the effort and give up then it will make another comeback and start all over . ginseng just hastoo many natural defenses to ever go extinct .I do think so buyers maybe a little nervous about a big dig but time will tell

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It's the underground trade of closed season diggers they're buyers most of them unlicensed and some pill pushers that accept roots for dope that might be our worst enemies. The guys that dig and sale to these lowlifes are like locust taking everything in they're path.

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As a small ginseng dealer here in N.Y. and as a digger for over 25 years I agree the shows are hurting wild ginseng and the a lot of what I saw before I turned these shows off were either complete lies or pumped up fiction. There will always be those who believe like gold mining they can get rich quick, those of us that care will have to continue to be good stewards in the woods. I would like to say as a member of this forum for a few years its awesome to read and know there is still a lot of diggers and dealers that care and want to make a difference .

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I would love to see a show about the conservation of Ginseng, it's history and the truth of over harvesting negligence. Not pumped up prices and inflated notions of people getting rich quick.

Show the folk who poach and steal,the meager lives they lead, their lack of foresight into the future,the pills they pop, and show the rusted out single wide with the front door throwed open with an old wet couch on the porch and seven or eight dogs running across its stained carpet littered with junk.
That is your \"Appalachian Outlaw\" folks. Someone trying to supplement their government check, food stamps and habits with a natural resource because their too sorry to go to work.

Just simple ticks that should be pulled from the back of our natural wild places.

Hillhopper

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